You can say 'don't forget x', but it doesn't mean the same as 'don't forget to x'.Simp!y because of the meaning of 'to forget'.

But you could, if you wanted, say:I like to flush toilets.I like flushing toilets.

They would mean the same thing. It would make you a weird person, but they mean the same thing.

Sentence construction is not just about the parts of speech - the meaning of the words is also important.

From the other thread on 'forget to flush'

tgar wrote:

These are all simple actions.To prefer, to start, to suggest.

But to forget is complex. It can happen afterwards - you can perform the action and then forget doing it.

I started reading the book.Simple action.

I started to read the book.Simple action.They mean the same.

ButI forget reading the bookI have read the book. But then I forgot I had done it.I don't remember reading it.The action is something you can forget or remember doing. Ie reading the book. But whether you remember or have forgotten, the action was completed.

Vs

I forgot to read the book.I was supposed to, but I didn't read it.

I remembered to read the book.I was supposed to read it, and I did.

It doesn't apply to your other sentences because they don't refer to something that can happen after the action.You can't 'start reading' after you have read the book. Or start preferring. It makes no sense.

The particular meaning of the verb 'to forget' leads to the need for two different grammatical structures.For verbs where that makes no sense, it doesn't make any difference. There is only one logical meaning for those verbs.

I've found over the years that students who are taught English with the emphasis on Grammar rather than usage, often do this. They have been trained to look at a word as a unit of a grammatical function - not as a code for a concept/item etc.

I think if I had a Top Ten of things to say to language learners, one would be: learn the *words*. What they mean, how natives use them, what they stand for, what they communicate, how they are received, what their cultural capital is, how they relate to one's native language.

thar, that was absolutely valuable explanation for me to understand what even gerund form means. Thanks.

And Romany, you are absolutely correct about the problems, but the education is so ingrained in your brain that it is a cell that is too hard to break, unless you have someone speaking to you all the time in His native tongue, such as spouses.

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